Priory Direct, a sustainable packaging and certified B Corp, has received £265,000 funding to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and transform business efficiency through a partnership with the University of Kent.
The firm is sponsoring a PhD graduate for 30 months through a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) scheme, part funded by Innovate UK and supported by the University. The project involves using Priory Direct’s data to develop an innovative forecasting model that will predict clients’ needs and enable more efficient planning, manufacture, and movement of packaging stock. The resulting model will be transferrable to other sectors and enable Priory Direct to operate in a significantly more sustainable and efficient way and propel growth.
Josh Pitman, Managing Director of Priory Direct, says: “We identified the opportunity and urgent need to transform how we operate through AI several years ago but didn’t have the skills and resources inhouse or the budget to make the innovation a reality. This project will greatly improve the sustainability and scalability of our operation. There will be many forward-thinking retailers, packaging firms and other businesses, particularly SMEs, in a similar situation and I would urge them to explore KTPs to access the funding, support and specialist expertise they need.”
A PhD graduate joins the company in March 2024. As well as funding his work, the KTP is supported by the expertise of two Senior Lecturers at Kent Business School. Dr Ramin Raeesi will provide expertise in logistics modelling and Dr Zhen Zhu will advise on machine learning, predictive modelling and demand forecasting. The firm will contribute £132,500 on top of the Innovate UK funding to cover the project.
Explaining the reasons behind the project, Pitman says that the pandemic spurred great volatility in the ecommerce market for retailers, manufacturers, and suppliers. For Priory Direct, which supplies eco-friendly packaging products to thousands of ecommerce retailers, business grew by 65% in 2020 followed by a trading lull as clients had stockpiled. The ecommerce market has remained unpredictable.
He says: “Managing volatility is extremely challenging, particularly with our customer base of 21,000 businesses. You either risk running out of stock and losing customers, or you pay large sums to store excess stock. With expertise in Machine Learning, a branch of AI, we can use our data to develop a planning model that accurately anticipates customer needs and will drastically improve the efficiency of how we manage our stock. Greater efficiency also means better for the environment by minimising excess stock and half-empty lorry journeys.”
Clare Witcher, Senior Knowledge Transfer Partnership Officer at the University of Kent, says: “The KTP scheme has been tried and tested over the past five decades. For small to medium sized businesses, having innovative ideas is not enough, they need the expertise and funding to bring their ideas to reality. We have worked on some very exciting projects and supported various Kent businesses to grow and flourish by giving them access to our wealth of academic knowledge, technology and skills. Typically, partner companies have seen an average increase of more than £1 million in pre-tax annual profits.”
KTPs aim to help businesses to improve their competitiveness and productivity through the better use of knowledge, technology and skills within the UK knowledge base. This KTP project was funded by UKRI through Innovate UK.
More information is available at https://www.kent.ac.uk/business-and-partnerships/knowledge-transfer-partnerships